Customer Service VA, Fashion Dropshipping Store (German Market, Part Time to Full Time)

I run a fashion dropshipping store selling to customers in Austria. The store is actively growing.

I need one person to own the customer inbox.

This starts at 2 hours a day. It is not designed to stay there. As the store grows, so does the volume, the hours, and the responsibility, and what the role is worth grows with it. The long-term direction is for this person to run customer experience end to end: the inbox, the response playbook, returns and refunds, and eventually training the next hire.

I am hiring for the full-time role. I am hiring for it early, while it is still part-time.

1. ABOUT THE BUSINESS

I sell men's and women's clothing and accessories to customers in Austria. The store runs on Shopify, ships within Austria, and gets its customers through Facebook and Instagram ads.

It is a small operation. I handle the ads, the creative, the product side, and right now, the customer emails. The emails are the part that has to change. My customers are in Central Europe, I am not, and their morning is the middle of my night. That is the gap I am hiring to close.

Volume is currently 5 to 10 customer emails per day. That is light, and I am telling you that up front rather than overselling the role. What matters to me is not how many emails get answered, it is that every single one gets answered the same day, correctly, without me having to check.

One thing to know before you apply: my customers write in German. You do not need to speak German. Every reply you send will come from a library of pre-written, pre-approved German responses that I give you, and I will show you exactly how to use it. You will use a translation tool to read what comes in. What I need from you is the discipline to use the approved wording exactly as written, and the judgment to flag anything that does not fit the library instead of improvising a reply.

If you like to freestyle and figure things out as you go, this is not the right role. If you are precise and you follow a system, it is.

2. WHAT YOU WILL DO
2.1 Primary duties (this is the job)
Work the customer inbox once per day and clear it completely before you log off
Answer product, sizing, shipping, and order questions using the approved German response library and SOPs
Handle return and refund requests end to end: check eligibility, process the refund in Shopify, confirm to the customer
Process order corrections: wrong size, wrong colour, wrong address, cancellations
Escalate anything that does not fit the library, instead of guessing
Own the inbox during your shift. I stay out of it while you are working. Anything I handle outside your shift gets labelled so you can see it is already done. We never reply to the same customer twice.
2.2 Secondary duties
Check tracking daily and email customers about delays before they email me about them
Keep a short daily log of what came in, what you sent, and what you escalated
2.3 Not your job

Ads, creative, product research, or bookkeeping. I handle those.

3. HOW YOU WILL WORK WITH AI

You will use an AI tool (Claude or ChatGPT) as part of your daily process. It is not optional and it is not a shortcut, it is how the job is done. You will be provided with an SOP and you must give it to AI to read it before starting. You also need to read this SOP carefully, analyze, and understand it.

3.1 The daily workflow
Use AI to read and translate the incoming German email, and to summarise what the customer actually wants
Use AI to identify which approved template applies
Where no template fits, use AI to draft a reply in English, which you then send to me for approval
Before any German email goes out, you compare the German text against its English meaning line by line, and confirm they say the same thing. Not similar. The same. If the German says something the English does not, or the English says something the German does not, you stop and escalate.
3.2 Two rules that are absolute

Rule 1. Final German comes from the approved template library, not from AI. AI reads the German email and drafts in English. You verify every fact against Shopify, then send the matching approved German template. If no template fits, you send me the English draft and I approve the German before it goes out. AI never generates German that reaches a customer without passing through me first.

Rule 2. AI never states a fact about an order. Tracking status, refund amounts, delivery dates, stock levels, these come from Shopify, checked by you, typed by you. AI does not know our orders and will confidently invent details if you let it. Every factual claim in an email must be one you personally verified in Shopify.

3.3 Customer privacy

Before pasting any customer email into an AI tool, replace the customer's name, address, and order number with placeholders. Our customers are in the EU and their personal data is legally protected. The AI does not need those details to help you understand the email. This is not negotiable, and it applies every single time.

3.4 Austrian German, not standard German

All final customer emails go out in Austrian German, not standard German. There are real differences in wording and register, and Austrian customers notice immediately when a brand does not sound local. This is exactly why the approved template library exists and why you must not improvise German. The templates are already written in the correct Austrian wording.

3.5 You will not be figuring this out alone

I provide written SOPs and guides covering the email workflow, the response library, returns and refunds, and customer service standards, all written specifically for this store and for fashion dropshipping. I will also be guiding you in your first week. We will work together and my job is to help you so you can eventually be independent. This is extremely important for long-term growth. Your job is to follow the SOPs precisely and tell me when something is not covered, so I can add it.

4. REQUIREMENTS

You must have all of these:

Customer service experience for a dropshipping store. Not general VA work, not call centre work. Specifically a dropshipping ecommerce store where you dealt with supplier delays and long shipping times. Fashion or apparel strongly preferred.

Shopify admin experience. You must be able to find an order, edit it, issue a full or partial refund, and read a fulfillment status without being walked through it.

Excellent written English. You and I communicate only in writing. Your application is the test.

The discipline to follow a script exactly. This role has a rulebook. Deviating from it in German, a language you cannot check, creates legal and trust problems for the business.

Practical experience using AI tools for work. Claude, ChatGPT, or similar, used daily as part of a real job, not just tried once. You must understand that AI output needs to be verified, not trusted. If you think AI is a shortcut that removes the need to check things, this role will go badly.

Reliability at a fixed daily time. Same window, every weekday. If you cannot commit to the same two hours each day, this will not work.

Stable internet and a working computer. No shared or internet café setups.

Willingness to use time tracking software (Hubstaff). This includes periodic screenshots during your working hours. If you are not comfortable with that, do not apply.

5. NICE TO HAVE

Not required. Mention them if you have them:

Experience with returns and refunds under EU or German consumer law
Experience with a helpdesk tool (Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Reamaze)
Experience serving European customers, especially German speaking ones
Any German at all, even basic
Experience writing or maintaining a canned response or macro library
Klaviyo, or email marketing tools generally
6. TOOLS YOU WILL USE

Neo (neo.space), our business email platform. This is where all customer emails come in and go out. The approved German response library lives in Neo's Templates, so you select the correct approved reply directly inside the mail client.

Shopify Admin, for orders, refunds, fulfillment.

Google Sheets, for the daily log.

Hubstaff, for time tracking.

Claude or ChatGPT (free plan is fine), for reading incoming German, classifying requests, and drafting English. You use your own free account. Because free AI plans may use what you paste in to improve their systems, stripping customer details before pasting is mandatory, not optional. See the privacy rule above.

A translation tool (DeepL or similar), as a second opinion when checking German against English. Never to write final replies.

I will provide access to everything. No paid tools out of your pocket.

7. SCHEDULE
7.1 Your shift

11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Vienna time, Monday to Friday.

That is currently 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Manila time. Note that this is written in Vienna time on purpose. The Philippines does not observe daylight saving and Europe does, so the Manila clock shifts by one hour twice a year. The Vienna window stays fixed unless your hours are lengthened in the future.

This timing is deliberate. Most of my customer emails arrive in the Austrian morning. Your shift starts after that wave has landed, so you clear the whole queue in one pass and customers get a same-day reply.

7.2 These hours are not final

They are set around current email volume, and that volume is growing. As it does, the shift may lengthen, move earlier or later, or split into two passes a day to cover both the Austrian morning and late afternoon. Any change is discussed with you in advance and paid accordingly. I am not going to quietly expand your hours without speaking with you first.

More hours is also how this role grows. Increased volume means more work, more responsibility, and more opportunity within the business. If you need a permanently fixed, unchangeable schedule, this is not the right role.

7.3 How we will work together

I am in the US Eastern timezone, which is 12 hours behind you. We will not be online at the same time during your shift, and that is fine. The job is designed to be independent.

You clear the inbox during your shift and log what you did
I review it during my day and leave written feedback, which you read the next morning
We do a live call in your morning, before your shift, when something needs discussing

Calls are daily for the first two weeks while you learn the system, then twice a week, then once a week. Call time is paid and your shift is shortened accordingly on those days. You are never asked to work unpaid hours.

8. PAY AND GROWTH

Starting rate: $3 to $4 per hour, depending on your experience. 10 hours per week to start.

Paid via Wise or Payoneer, twice monthly.

On growth. I am not going to promise you a number or a date, because I would be making it up. What I can tell you honestly is how it works.

The store is growing. As email volume increases, this role needs more hours. As you prove you can run the inbox without me checking behind you, it needs less supervision and more ownership. Both of those things change what the role is worth, and I would rather pay one person more as the business grows than keep hiring cheap replacements.

Increases depend on three things: store volume, your performance, and your dedication. If you deliver, the opportunity here is real. If you are looking for a guaranteed raise on a fixed schedule, I cannot offer that and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

The long-term direction of this role is full-time ownership of customer experience: the inbox, the response playbook, returns and refunds, and eventually training the next person we hire.

9. HOW TO APPLY

Read this part carefully. Applications that do not follow it will be deleted without being read. This is the first test of whether you can follow instructions precisely, which is the core requirement of the job.

9.1 Subject line

Use exactly this format:

Vienna Mornings, [Your Full Name]

9.2 Answer all four questions below

Number them. Question 2 has three parts, answer all three.

QUESTION 1

Name one dropshipping store you handled customer service for. Tell me: what it sold, what platform it ran on, roughly how many customer emails per day you handled, how long you worked there, and what your typical response time was. Be specific. Vague answers here end the application. Also tell me the name of the store you have worked for.

QUESTION 2

Below are three example customer emails from this store. They are in German, because that is what my customers write in. Use your AI tool to read them. That is exactly what you would do on the job.

Answer all three. Keep each answer under 150 words. I am not looking for a perfect reply. I am looking at how you think.

TICKET 1

Betreff: Rücksendung Bluse

Hallo,

ich habe am 14. Juli vier Teile bestellt, Bestellnummer BL-4471. Die Bluse in Größe M passt leider überhaupt nicht, die Ärmel sind viel zu eng. Die anderen drei Sachen behalte ich, die sind schön.

Ich möchte also die Bluse zurückschicken. Die Bluse hat 60 Euro gekostet, dann bekomme ich 60 Euro zurück oder wie läuft das? Bezahlt habe ich insgesamt 168 Euro.

Bitte schicken Sie mir das Rücksendeetikett.

Liebe Grüße Martina H.

What our system shows: 4 items ordered. Full price of all 4 items together: €240. She paid €168. The store runs an automatic quantity discount at checkout: 2 items = 20% off, 3 items = 25% off, 4 or more = 30% off. The return is within policy and approved.

How much do you refund her? Show your working.

TICKET 2

Betreff: Paket nicht angekommen

Guten Tag,

laut Tracking wurde meine Sendung am 30. Juli zugestellt. Ich habe aber nichts bekommen. Es war auch keine Benachrichtigung im Briefkasten.

Angeblich wurde das Paket bei einem Nachbarn abgegeben. Ich habe bei allen im Haus gefragt und niemand hat etwas bekommen.

Ich warte jetzt seit drei Wochen. Das ist wirklich nicht in Ordnung. Ich möchte entweder mein Geld zurück oder sofort eine neue Lieferung.

Bestellnummer BL-4318

Sabine K.

What our system shows: Tracking marked delivered on 30 July. Carrier note says handed to a neighbour. No signature image available. We are a dropshipping store. We hold no stock ourselves, and a replacement would take several weeks to arrive.

What do you do, and what do you say to her?

TICKET 3

Betreff: Größe passt nicht + 19 Tage Wartezeit

Hallo,

19 Tage habe ich auf diese Bestellung gewartet. NEUNZEHN TAGE. Auf der Website stand etwas ganz anderes.

Und jetzt passt die Jacke nicht einmal. Ich brauche eine Größe größer, also L statt M. Bitte schicken Sie mir die L und ich schicke die M zurück.

Ich habe das Ganze schon auf Instagram gepostet. Wenn ich bis heute Abend keine Antwort bekomme, wende ich mich an meine Bank und lasse die Zahlung rückgängig machen.

Bestellnummer BL-4502

Andrea M.

What our system shows: Delivered 19 days after order. The store does not offer exchanges, only returns and refunds. You have no approved template for exchanges, and you do not have authority to offer discounts or compensation.

What do you send her, and what do you do next?

QUESTION 3

You use an AI tool to translate a customer's German email. The AI tells you the customer is asking to return a jacket. You are about to send the approved German return template. What do you check before you send it, and why? Three or four sentences.

QUESTION 4

My shift window is 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Vienna time, Monday to Friday. Can you commit to that window every weekday, long term?

9.3 Final instructions

Do not send a generic cover letter. I can tell, and I will skip it. Answer the questions in this section, then keep reading. Section 10 has more instructions and they are not optional.

Applicants who make the shortlist will be given one short paid test task before any offer.

10. LAST THINGS, READ THIS PART

Almost nobody gets to the bottom of a job post. The people who do are the people I want, so this section is where the real filter is.

10.1 Start and end your application with this exact sentence

The Schnitzel is in the mailbox.

It goes twice. Once as the very first line of your message, with nothing before it, and once as the very last line, with nothing after it. Yes, it is a silly sentence. That is the point. If it is missing from either end, I know your application came out of a machine and I will not read the rest of it.

10.2 Three questions only you can answer

An AI can write you a beautiful application. It cannot answer these, because it is not sitting where you are sitting. Answer them in one line each. Do not overthink them, and do not make them sound impressive.

A. What time is it where you are, right now, as you finish writing this? Give me the exact minute.

B. What is one thing you can see from where you are sitting? Not a description of your office. One actual object.

C. Tell me about one time you got something wrong at work and a customer was affected by it. What happened, and what did you do next? Do not tell me about a time you turned a weakness into a strength. I want a real mistake. Everyone has them, and I trust people who can name theirs.

Question C matters most. This job involves refunds, money, and a language you cannot read. You will get something wrong at some point. What I need to know is whether you will tell me when you do, or hide it and hope I do not notice. Hiding it is the only thing that would get you removed from this role.

10.3 A few honest notes before you apply

You will not hear back fro ---------- instantly. I read every application myself and there are usually a lot of them. Please do not send follow up messages asking if I received it. I did.

Do not apply if you are looking for something to fill a gap until a full-time job comes along. This role is small right now on purpose, and it is going to grow into something bigger. I am looking for the person who wants the bigger version of it.

If you read all of this and you are still interested, apply. If you skimmed it and you are about to send a template, we would both be wasting our time.